Italian court begins trial of 26 CIA agents

TWENTY-SIX US citizens, almost all believed to be CIA agents, went on trial in absentia yesterday accused of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in Milan and flying him to Egypt.

The court case, highlighting one of Washington’s most controversial policies in its war on terrorism, started hours before President George W Bush was due to visit Italy.

Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was on Washington’s list of terrorist suspects and he says he was tortured under interrogation in Egypt after his so-called extraordinary rendition from Italy.